Both recommended doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are the best way to propose new mutant variants of the virus – and ultimately end the pandemic, said Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.
“We feel that the optimal approach would be to continue to get as many people as possible on their first dose,” and that people get their second dose on time, Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. , said during an information session of the Covid-19 White House.
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The two Covid-19 vaccines available in the US, from drug manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are about 95 percent effective when given in two doses, three to four weeks apart. These dose ranges have been studied in clinical trials with tens of thousands of participants.
But a slower-than-expected nationwide deployment of the vaccine, coupled with the UK’s decision to delay second-dose, has left some doubting why the US is not changing its vaccination strategy from the more complex two-dose regimen to one that simply seeks as much as possibly first doses in American arms.
However, experts say that just one dose of the vaccine will probably not be enough to stop the pandemic.
“If you have a lesser immune response, which you get after the first dose, you are more likely to injure this virus than to kill it,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said. said during a call with reporters last week.
If we do not kill the virus, Offit said, it will still have a chance to mutate.
The boost in response to the second dose, Fauci said, gives a greater response, meaning it can protect against not only the “wild-type” coronavirus circulating, but also against the variants gaining ground in the US.
Fauci said that while it is not unreasonable to consider investigating whether we can get away with a single dose, the virus spreads and mutates faster than any research project could answer the question.
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What’s more, the available vaccines appear to be effective against the variant first identified in the UK called B.1.1.7. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention predicted that the variant would become the predominant strain in the US by March.
The US has identified coronavirus variants in 699 cases in the US, said dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said during Monday’s briefing. In all but nine cases, the British variant was identified.
“I ask everyone to please be vigilant,” Walensky said. “The continued spread of variants remains worrying and is a threat that could reverse the recent positive trends we are seeing.”
As of February 6, new cases of Covid-19 have dropped by nearly 20 percent compared to the previous week.
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